


Stars Above Us

by RhymeReason



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Memory Loss, Other, Panic, Stargazing, canon typical language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-10 01:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18650134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhymeReason/pseuds/RhymeReason
Summary: The stars may change depending on the season but there was always stars in the sky. Even when it was cloudy and nasty outside, he knew that under the clouds the same stars were there.  He took a little bit of comfort in that.





	Stars Above Us

The stars on this plane were all wrong.

It shouldn’t be surprising, but it is. And it hurts Taako more than he thought it would. As a kid, Taako looked at the stars a lot. In the midst of everything - every moved home, every new caravan, every hard hit, ever missed meal, every night of lost sleep, he had taken solace in the fact that some things in the world were fundamentally unchangeable.He had a list of constants and the stars were on the list, nestled right between his love of cooking and Lup. 

The stars may change depending on the season but there was always stars in the sky. Even when it was cloudy and nasty outside, he knew that under the clouds the same stars were there.  He took a little bit of comfort in that.

Even now, decades past being a child, he loved the stars. 

But these stars, in this new plane that only had talking animals and the fear that was buried deep in his chest, were different stars then those he had grown up with. 

He hated them for it.

  
  


The stars pulled at Taako. 

He was on the road, in some buttfuck place in the middle of nowhere, the type of place that no one wanted to be. Least of all him. But sometimes when traveling, you ended up in spots like this. The wagon was parked in a small clearing not far from the road, putting it at a perfect spot for Taako to avoid meditating by sitting on top of the wagon and stargazing. His driver/assistant/bodyguard/janitor/friend(?), Sazed was sleeping inside the wagon, so Taako had time to kill anyways. It was the perfect night for it too. Warm and clear, the sky a perfect shade of deep dark blue with pin picks of bright light. It was familiar and beautiful.

Sitting atop the wagon, he felt the stress of the day starting to drift away, piece by piece. It was being replaced slowly by the familiar warm comfort that the stars brought. The small comfort that some things would always be the same. He had learned all the constellations as a child but somewhere along the line he had forgotten them, but even so. The stars were there whether or not he knew their names.

The warm feeling was ripped away by the sight of a shooting star racing across the sky. Every bit of warmth evaporated, replaced with the deep chill of fear. His heart stopped and restarted off rhythm. He felt suddenly ansty and off-balanced. Every part of his body was screaming at him to run, follow, chase, find,  _ run, follow, chase, find, runfollowchasefind RUNFOLLOWCHASEFIND _ **_SAVE_ ** _.  _

It was all pushing and pulling in on him, creating a vacuum within his mind that felt overwhelming. He couldn’t seem to breathe, everything caught up inside him, facturing outward until it felt like he was going to explode and-

“Taako?” 

Sazed was there, standing next to the wagon, looking up at Taako, his blue eyes glinting in the starlight. His brow was furrowed in concern as he stared up at him. “Are you okay?”

Taako let out the breath that was lodged in his chest and nodded. The shooting star was gone and the panic in his bones was oozing away. He was starting to click back into place again. 

“Okay...” It was obvious that Sazed didn't quite believe him but he let the subject drop. “The sun is due to come up in about an hour or so. Wanna hit the road again? If we leave now we should make it Glamour Springs by midday.”

Taako nodded again, not able to find his voice. He climbed down from the top of the wagon.

He vowed to not think of the shooting star again.

  
  
  


The months quickly faded into years after that and Taako resolutely did not think about the stars again. He was too busy running away from Glamour Springs and then saving the world from stupid ass artifacts to worry about shooting stars.

Or at least that's what he told himself

Yet he eventually found himself laying out on the lawn of the Bureau of Balance, staring up at the stars with the rest of the boner squad. He was just over the line of tipsy, stopping before he danced over into drunkenness. It was one of their rare days “off” (they lived on the goddamn moon,they didn't really get days “off”) and the two other chucklefucks had convinced him to drink and go stargazing with them. 

It actually wasn't the worst thing ever.

Merle and Magnus were weird.  They were both giant tools but the three of them clicked well together in a way that Taako didn't trust. He would catch himself doing things without any reason to. Like putting fucking ranch on Merle's eggs or making Magnus's favorite cherry jubilee with whiskey instead of brandy. He did these things without thinking, like they were second nature until they were pointed out and he realize that he didn't have an answer. It was strange and  left him itchy and uncomfortable. He prefered not to think about it.

There was a lot of things he didn't like to think about.

But the stars were pretty and that's honestly all he could find himself caring about tonight. Even hanging out with Merle and  Magnus, he could appreciate the stars.It was a good night.

As if Istus herself were fucking with him, the moment he finally thinks things might just be going his way, a shooting star streaks across the sky.

The same chill ricochets down his spine. The overwhelming feeling that he  _ has _ to find that star, to chase it beyond the end of the world comes again and he can't move, can't think at all but suddenly Magnus is there.

He’s drunk, his face flushed a bright red and he’s standing and yelling at the sky. “Fuck you!” echoes around the B.O.B quad until Magnus sits down again and runs his hand over his face. “I fuckin hate shooting stars. Freak me out.”

Taako’s throat clenches.

On his other side, Merle hums. “Huh, me too. Make me feel like I should be running after them or some kooky shit like that.”

“Weird.” Magnus looks back up at the sky. “What about you, Taako? Any weird feelings about shooting stars?”

Before either can look at him for his response, Taako closes his eyes feigns sleep. 

He didn’t want to think about it.

  
  
  


It wasn’t until nearly two years after the Day of Story and Song that Taako realized the stars had changed.

There was more of them for starters. All of the stars that had winked out of existence over the time that the Hunger had been haunting this Plane had winked back into existence once John was gone, completely reshaping the landscape of the sky.

The beach of Bottlenose Cove was the perfect place to see all the new stars. So that's what Taako was doing. Laying in the sand, looking up at the stars.

Lup settled herself into the sand next to him and handed him a glass of the shitty beer Merle had made in his basement. It actually tasted pretty good but was shit by default just because it was touched by Merle. Over Lup’s shoulder, Taako could see everyone else gathered around the Midsummer bonfire. Kravitz and Davenport were talking quietly to the side, Angus was telling Barry, Lucrecia, Carey and Mavis about a recent case, Magnus and Killian were actively throwing Mookie back and forth and Merle was asleep, buried up to his neck in sand.

It was a weird sight but it burned a warm spot in the center of Taako’s chest. He told himself it was the beer making him warm but he couldn’t even fool himself with that lie.

Lup bumped his shoulder and followed his line of sight. She smiled. “We’ve got a pretty good family, huh?”

Taako turned and looked up at the sky. A shooting star streaked overhead and he smiled.

“Yeah Lulu, I think we do.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope ya'll enjoyed this little fic! I'm pretty dang proud of it. It was a fun kind of character study to do.   
> Please leave a comment here and come visit me on tumblr @kentuckyfriedbooks!


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